Themes (I, II, III)

Theme 1

Gender/Mental Health/Violence Network
Members of the international, multidisciplinary network review the evidence for preventing child maltreatment and intimate partner violence and the impairment in mental health associated with these exposures and develop strategies for enhancing existing interventions and developing new ones.

Theme 2

Understanding and Fostering Resilient Mental Health Outcomes in the Context of Violence across the LifespanResearch increasingly demonstrates that social contexts and policies may be good predictors of resilience – that is, the ability to “survive and thrive” despite exposure to trauma. We will explore resilience across the lifespan in males and females in Canadian, Australian, Danish and Indian violent contexts by analysing existing data, by speaking directly with people regarding their violence experiences using qualitative research methods, and by reviews of the existing research literature in this area.

PreVAiL, following extensive literature reviews, a consensus development process, and team discussion, uses the following definition of resilience:

Resilience is a dynamic process in which psychological, social, environmental and biological factors interact to enable an individual at any stage of life to develop, maintain, or regain their mental health despite exposure to adversity.

Theme 3

Innovations in Knowledge Translation and Exchange Strategies and Research Methods Specific to Mental Health, Gender and Violence across the Lifespan
The third theme brings together researchers and partners in Themes 1 and 2 with experts in knowledge translation and exchange to develop ways to synthesize findings across studies and contexts to provide messages about violence and its impact on mental health that will be useful to stakeholders in different decision-making contexts. Since 2017, an explicit focus has been sharing knowledge to support Canadian public policy work.